Coin dispenser trays are widely used as cashier/check out areas and in the self-service check out equipment typically found in places like supermarkets (e.g., Jewel/Osco) and Home Depot. A variety of coin dispensing trays or coin cassettes are provided by a number of manufacturers, each manufacturer possibly offering several tray models having different sizes, arrangements, volumes, denominations, and combinations of coin receptacles for receiving coins in various coin positions.
One common coin dispenser is the Asahi Seiko USA, Inc. (www.asusainc.com) HM-4 coin hopper, in which a plurality of hoppers (i.e., 1¢, 5¢, 25¢, $1.00) drop the coins into a single exit chute for delivery to a common coin cup. The HM-4 accepts an AMP drawer plug connection to simplify wiring and the hoppers each slide off of the main base plate to permit servicing of coin jams. As the hoppers are depleted, the cashiers or other designated personnel, fill the individual hoppers with coins.
Another popular conventional coin dispenser is the TELQUIP Transact 2+, which employs removable coin canister or cassette. The program software tracks the change being issued and optimizes the use of the coin supply by attempting to even out the distribution of the coins to enable a longer period of time between refills. The Transact 2+ provides a plug and play pre-wire installation with standard RS232 serial port and other register interfaces. TELQUIP advertises that the Transact 2+ enables vendors to save from 5 to 7 seconds on every transaction. However, despite these benefits, the refill operation of the TELQUIP TransactCLS must be done manually. To facilitate loading of the Transact 2+ coin canister, TELQUIP provides the TransactCLS (Canister Loading Solution), shown in FIG. 1. To use this manual device, one must first remove the clear plastic canister cover by depressing two tabs 70 at the bottom and sliding up until the canister handle hangs toward the back of the canister. Then, the canister stand 10 is placed on a flat surface and the canister 20 assembled to the stand by sliding it down onto two rails 60. The canister loading device 30 is then attached to the canister by lowering the device onto the canister, engaging the top rear of the canister, then pivoting the bottom of the loading device inwardly to engage the front of the canister. The canister loading device 30 is then slid down until it engages the taps at the base of the canister stand.
If the funnel retainer 40 is not already assembled onto the loading device, it is slid onto the two rails at the top of the loading device. The funnel 50 is then attached to the funnel retainer 40 by dropping the funnel onto the retainer with the slots aligned. The funnel 50 is then rotated ¼ turn clockwise, positioned with the opening 52 in the front and the “nose” 54 in the back. To manually position the funnel over the appropriate denomination, the funnel must be lifted slightly and slid until positioned over the appropriate column at which time the funnel is dropped in place so that the shoulder 56 of the funnel is flush with the retainer 40. At this point, the person performing the filling operation must begin loading coins for that denomination by slowly pouring coins into the funnel either by hand, cup, or directly from the coin bag. They must continue filling until that column is filled to the desired height indicated by the calibration strips on the canister. This work is tedious, time consuming, and must be repeated for each denomination.
Despite the advances realized by the aforementioned technology, there remains room for additional improvements to the technology to improve the speed with which coin hoppers and coin canisters may be refilled and returned to service.